Posted 8:37 AM by steve

Something to keep in mind when thinking about the Mitchell report that named a bunch of former and present baseball players as having used performance enhancing drugs... a large chunk of the names in the report came from just a couple of sources, Kirk Radomski, a former clubhouse employee for the New York Mets, and personal trainer Brian McNamee.

McNamee and Radomski are unlikely to be the only ones procuring drugs for players during that time, they are simply the two who got caught and spilled their guts to the Mitchell investigators. My guess is that for every player named, there are many more who are just as guilty but who were fortunate enough that their supplier didn't get caught or have their conscience get to them. Just as Barry Bonds reportedly started taking drugs as a response to the acclaim given to Sosa and McGwire, it would be silly to think that other players, seeing how well the likes of Clemens and Pettite were doing, didn't follow suit themselves.

But what does it matter? Baseball isn't going to do anything to these players, they're not going to be suspended or fined, they're not going to have their records and accomplishments erased or marked with an asterisk. The players still in the game will still get their multi-million dollar paychecks and be cheered by the fans of whatever laundry the players happen to be wearing this coming spring. The player's union will continue to resist anything that infringes on the players' ability to do what they want when they want. The owners will do only as little as they think they have to in order to keep Congress from stepping in and screwing around with things. And all of the sportswriters who are now ablaze with indignation at how these players have tarnished the game won't step forward and admit their own contributions, how they glamorized and worshipped the very players they are now so contemptuous of.

A pox on them all.